Fast acting outboard motor mount



June 19, 1962 M. SEYFFER FAST ACTING OUTBOARD MOTOR MOUNT Filed Aug. 14, 1959 United States Patent 3,039,723 FAST ACTING OUTBDARD MOTOR MOUNT Max Seyfier, Munich, Germany, assignor to Rockwell G.m.b.H., Pinneberg, near Hamburg, Germany, a corporation of Germany Filed Aug. 14, 1959, Ser. No. 833,822 Claims priority, application Germany Aug. 19, 1958 Claims. (Cl. 248-4) The present invention relates to improvements in outboard motor mounts for boats and more particularly to improvements in such mounts for fiat deck craft such as sailboats and the like.

On motor boats having a vertical back board, outboard motors are fastened by clamping. On sailing boats or similar boats possessing an essentially horizontal fiat deck without projecting edges, special constructions forming a projecting edge to which the motor can be clamped in a usual manner have been used heretofore. For this purpose, there are mounted on the deck upwardly bent strap irons or fittings to which the motor can be fastened with a screw by means of an underlying wooden plate or the like. Such fastening elements cannot be made in universally applicable form and therefore cannot be bought commercially as they must be individually adapted to the specific form of the boat and to the special situations of the boat to which the motor is to be fastened. In addition, tools are necessary for mounting and dismounting of the motor so that a rapid mounting or dismounting is impossible. For such mounting a certain amount of experience is also necessary.

The fundamental object of the present invention is to provide a simple fitting or motor mount which permits the rapid mounting and dismounting of an outboard motor on boats having a fiat deck without a free board edge at the stern. The fitting according to the invention is especially suitable for all kinds of sailing boats and enables a simple mounting and dismounting of the .boat without using any tools.

The mechanism for fastening outboard motors to the deck of a boat according to the present invention consists of a base plate rigidly mounted to the deck of the boat and having fixed thereto one or several clamping devices into which may be engaged complementary clam-ping elements fixed to the motor. The elements are kept in their position automatically by spring tension. The clamping devices mounted on the base plate are preferably arranged in pairs and are provided with oppositely directed open ended recesses. Into these recesses two preferably boltshaped clamping elements fixed to the motor are engaged. One of these elements is movable against spring tension relative to the other to vary the spacing therebetween to permit disengagement of the motor clamping element from the boat mounted clamping element when it is desired to remove the motor from the boat.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a fast acting outboard motor mount embodying a clamping device adapted to be fixed to a horizontal deck at the stern of a boat in which a clamping device is provided with oppositely facing recesses which are reduced in cross section toward the inside thereof for the purpose of tightly clamping of bolt-shaped clamping elements under the action of a spring biasing them into the recesses. The recess on the clamping device of the base plate receiving the movable bolt-shaped clamping element is provided with an upper contact face for the bolt-shaped clamping element which is inclined toward the outside. The movable clamping element is guided within elongated holes provided within space support members attached to the motor. For effecting the fastening of the motor to the boat, it is only necessary to insert one of the bolt-shaped clamping elements attached to the motor into the corresponding one of the recesses on the clamping device on the base plate, and then by means of a handle to draw in the other bolt-shaped element into the second recess against spring tension.

These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent by reference to the appended claims and as the following detailed description proceeds in reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a cross section of the clamping device taken substantially along the line 11 of FIGURE 2 showing its relation to the boat and motor, and

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of the clamping device structure of FIGURE 1.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, a base plate 3 is fixed to the deck 1 of the boat 2 by screws 4. Rigidly fixed to the base plate 3 are two clamping devices 5 and 6 which are each provided at their opposite ends with oppositely directed recesses 7 and 8 as is best shown in FIGURE 1.

A split clamp 9 for the tube surrounding the propeller drive shaft of the outboard motor 10 is pivotal about a horizontal axis on a suitably shouldered bolt 11 which is fixed between spaced parallel support members 12 and 13 which are opposed shallow channel shaped elements. Members 12 and 13 project over the base plate 3 and are connected together by a suitably shouldered bolt 14. The boss of split clamp 3 surrounding bolt 11 is normally rigidly clamped by bolt 11 between members 12 and 13 to maintain the motor 10 in the desired position relative to the boat 1. At their ends remote from the motor 10, members 12 and 13 embrace the clamping devices 5 and 6 and are provided with elongated holes or slots 15 through which a bolt 16 is inserted for movement longitudinally of slot 15. Springs 17 which are fixed at their opposite ends to bolts 14 and 16 draw the bolt 16 toward the :bolt 14. A handle 18 is fixed to the bolt 16 so that it can be readily pulled away from the bolt 14 in opposition to the biasing force of springs 17.

To mount the motor 10 on boat 1, the bolt 14 is first inserted into the recesses 7 of the members 5 and 6. These recesses 7 are of progressively reduced cross section toward their inside thus enabling the bolt 14 to seat tightly in recesses 7. Then by pulling the handle 18 against the action of the springs 17, the bolt 16 is drawn over the noses 19 of members 5 and 6 and hooked up into the recesses 8 at the other end of the members 5' and 6. The bolt 16 is drawn into the recesses 8 by the springs 17 and comes into contact with the upper inclined surfaces 20 of these recesses. By this taper of recesses 8, the bolt 16, on being drawn into the recesses 8, is at the same time pressed downwardly and thus presses the members 12 and 13 against the top surface of the base plate 3. The base plate 3 is preferably provided with a rib 12 against which the lower surfaces 22 of the members 12 and 13 are forced by this action. By this arrangement the looseness which the bolt must have within the elongated holes 15 is compensated so that an absolutely tight seat of the motor is effected.

In the embodiment shown in the drawing both recesses 7 and 8 are open toward the outside. The same result can be effected if both of these recesses are open toward the inside and a compression spring is used instead of a tension spring.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiment is therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed and desired to be secured by United States Letters Patent is:

1. A fast acting outboard motor attachment device for fiat deck craft comprising a first member adapted for direct attachment to a horizontal surface, a second member adapted for pivotally mounting an outboard motor for movement about a horizontal axis, and a selectively operable spring biased lock mechanism for detachably fixing said first member in tight assembly with said second member, said second member having outboard motor pivot means thereon at one end thereof located in horizontally spaced relation to the adjacent end of said first member so that an outboard motor pivotally mounted on said pivot means is freely pivotable with respect to said second member without restraint by either of said first and second members.

2. A fast acting outboard motor attachment device for fiat deck craft comprising a first member adapted for direct attachment to a horizontal surface, a second member adapted for pivotally mounting an outboard motor for movement about a horizontal axis, and selectively operable means for clamping said first member into tight assembly with said second member, said last named means comprising a pair of coacting clamping elements, one of said elements having a pair of opposed jaws and being rigidly fixed to one of said first and second members and the other of said clamping elements comprising a pair of members mounted in spaced parallel relation on the other of said first and second members for relative movement of sufiicient magnitude to permit selective engagement and disengagement thereof with said opposed jaws, and means on said other of said first and second members resiliently biasing said pair of members toward their jaw engaging positions.

3. The combinationdefined in claim 2 wherein said jaws are inwardly tapered and have a minimum transverse dimension less than the cross section of said pair of members whereby said pair of members are firmly wedged into said jaws by said resiliently biasing means.

4. A fast acting attachment mechanism for mounting an outboard motor at the stern of a fiat deck boat comprising a first clamping element adapted to be rigidly at tached to the flat deck, a second clamping element adapted at one end to support an outboard motor for pivotal movement, one of said clamping elements having rigidly fixed oppositely facing jaws and the other of said clamping elements having a pair of relatively movable members adapted to interfit in locking engagement in opposite ones of said jaws of said one clamping element, means resiliently biasing said members into engagement with said jaws, said members being relatively separable sufliciently to permit selective disengagement thereof from said jaws.

5. A- fast acting outboard motor attachment device for flat deck boats comprising a pair of selectively separable units; one of said units comprising a base plate adapted to be rigidly fixed to a horizontal deck at the stern of a boat and a pair of spaced parallel clamping members rigidly fixed to said base member and having transversely aligned open end recesses adjacent their opposite ends defining jaws; the other of said units comprising a motor support frame structure in the form of a pair of rigidly connected spaced parallel members adapted to pivotably support and clamp a motor support clamp at one end and to embrace said one unit clamping members at the other, said frame structure embodying spaced parallel jaw insert elements extending transversely between said second unit spaced parallel members and at least one of which is mounted for limited movement on said frame members toward and from the other of said jaw insert elements,

' and means carried by said frame structure for biasing said movable jaw insert element toward the one of its limit positions in which the spacing between said jaw insert elements is such that said jaw insert elements cannot be removed from said jaws, and manually operable means for shifting said movable jaw insert element toward the other of its limit positions to permit disengagement of said jaw insert elements from said jaws.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 464,408 Wililams Dec. 1, 1891 1,100,954 Caille June 23, 1914 1,576,178 De Corta Mar. 9, 1926 2,433,978 Bergeron Jan. 1, 1948 

